I enclose a memorandum furnished at
my request by the Solicitor1 showing
the nature and
the
expense of proceedings in Admiralty necessary in the present state of the law, before the restoration or condemnation of property taken from Pirates can be obtained. From this it will be seen
how unsuitable the process is to piracy in the China Seas, where the property captured rarely amounts in value to the costs of proceedings in even uncontested cases.
It follows therefore that if
the law were strictly carried out the claims of both the owners and
Captors would in almost every instance be swallowed
up in
legal costs; but the Naval Authorities have generally, when engaged
on
expeditions against pirates, taken the law into their own hands, and by burning the piratical Junks, and restoring the property recaptured when the ownership was
beyond dispute, avoided thereby proceedings in Admiralty which would inevitably have followed.